Motor Trader caught up with Chris Clark, group managing director at John Clark Motor Group, to talk acquisitions, Chinese entrants, the ZEV Mandate and how new car sales are shaping-up in the plate-change.
John Clark Motor Group is a long-established family-run dealer group in Scotland. The group was formed 50 years ago by current Chairman, John Clark OBE, and has sites located across Scotland, including Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dundee, St Andrews, Elgin, and many more.
It’s been a busy time for the group. John Clark has completed the acquisition of the Barnetts Volkswagen dealerships in Dundee and St Andrews. The acquisition brought the two dealerships into John Clark Motor Group’s portfolio of franchised sites. The dealerships rebranded as John Clark Volkswagen.
Clark says: “The Barnetts acquisition was part of the VW Group ideal network plan and from our perspective it was the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle which has given us the market area territory that we have got, which covers from Inverness down to St Andrews.
“Whilst we acquired Dundee and St Andrews, Eastern Western acquired Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline. It was almost like a swap of those businesses and that has consolidated their territory in the south and consolidated our territory in the North. I would say the more important acquisition for us was the Hawco acquisition which gave us presence and scale in a new city whilst it is the furthest North point for a lot of these franchises.
“It has got an awful lot of land to cover but not an awful lot of people. That was a great process for us, the acquisition has gone really well. Really pleased to say that most of the Hawco team have transitioned across really well. It has been a really positive experience for them and for us. We have seen a significant uplift in volume and in business in general across all of the Hawco sites.”
John Clark, like so many dealers, has been actively engaged with the new kids on the blocks, the Chinese brands building market share in the UK. Some at pace.
“The other activity that we have been engaged in is adopting the opportunity to represent some of the Chinese challenger brands. Over the course of the last year and a half, we have partnered with BYD, Geely and we have just signed to partner with Changan. If we include MG in the mix, that’s four of the Chinese challenger brands that we represent across the same geography as the rest of the businesses.
“It is an interesting and exciting time to be involved in the trade. There is a lot changing and with that we have had to adopt and change our approach but we are in a really good position to capitalise on those new opportunities at the same time as consolidating and focusing on growing the acquisitions we have made with more familiar brands,” he said.
BYD used to be known as the Chinese brand nobody had heard of. That’s changed. The dealer group now represents BYD in Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, and will take it on in Perth.
“It has been interesting. Theres a lot of expectation from BYD, the customer base is growing rapidly and the product lineup is growing rapidly and positively,” says Clark.
He highlights that battery electric adoption north of the border is still running at a relatively slower pace but hybrid in Scotland makes a lot more sense. Clark, like others, is surprised at just how quickly we have seen the introduction of hybrid models from BYD.
He says: “They are hugely ambitious, it is brilliant to be a part of that journey. They are full of enthusiasm but the challenge will be balancing all of that opportunity and enthusiasm with the investment requirement. Fastest-growing brand in the UK but still a relatively low base. They finished the year on 54,000 units. We still fundamentally have a business which is a one-legged stool.
“We always talk about a three-legged stool being used cars, new cars and aftersales and the revenue streams available to us through used and aftersales with these Chinese challenger brands are very restricted so its really a new car franchise. The earning potential is there but we need to balance the investment demand with what the earning potential is today.
“There is probably a meeting with a new entrant every week. The key is to be open to every potential meeting, listen to all the opportunities that are presented, consider how you can best represent them. Going in and building for these guys is quite challenging, particularly in our market areas because the overall total volume opportunity isn’t what is would be in Manchester or Birmingham. We have got quite a fine line to try and tread between investment and opportunity.”
Clark is happy with the four Chinese brands the Group has partnered with and admits he has been watching the growth of Omoda and Jaecoo from a distance. The brands have demonstrated strong growth through their hybrid and ICE product.
He says: “Those two, I would say we probably missed out on those and that’s frustrating. I am happy with the four we are partnering with. The teams in those businesses are very pragmatic which is positive, they recognise that the territories that we represent have smaller opportunity but we are both ambitious and know what we can do and how quickly we can do it for them.
“It’s based very much on one of our key goals to be a local hero which is why from a geography perspective we are not going to stretch ourselves South of England. We believe we can do the best job for us, the best job for our customers, the best job for our colleagues and brand partners, by concentrating on what is a broad geography from Inverness to south of Edinburgh.”
Overall performance
“We had a good new car month in January, February always will be for new cars but we are building for what feels to be a very strong March. Used cars has been consistently strong in January and certainly February we are looking at a very positive month in terms of used volume. When I look at the retail part exchange ratio for March, really positive about that. We are going to see a good influx of great stock in March off the back of the new car month. We are well positioned for a strong Q1,” he says.
In 2025, volumes softened and with exposure to JLR the industry saw new car volume drop as a consequence of the cyber attack.
Clark says: “That definitely impacted the year for us. Used volume was stable YoY 24/25. Used car market growth fell from 6% to 2% growth and we were stable. I put that down to supply which was quite challenging in 2025 in terms of overall numbers. Profitability was stable through the year until Q4. I think everyone found that challenging, mainly around UK consumer sentiment and the Budget. Talking to colleagues across the business, we were not alone in finding Q4 tough last year.”
With EVs taking greater market share. The group saw growth in new EV last year but this did not continue in January and February.
Clark explains: “I think that is because there was a lot of pre-registration happening in Q4 with manufacturers trying to hit those ZEV Mandate targets. Talking to a lot of our OEM partners, there is a lot of nervousness around the 33% target in 2026. I think it is going to be a fight all year to get to this 33% objective.
“I know there is a government consultation in July and I hope they listen but I know 33% is fixed, that will not change. I think it will be a very challenging year for new EV. Young used, 12 months to 24 months, is also quite a challenging sector to perform well in because the cars take the highest write down in that short period. Conversely, three year plus EV is starting to look like a good market if you can secure stock. That is primarily because the cars have been depreciated so heavily in the first 12 to 24 month period that anything older is now good value for money.
“The downside is that technology in the EV sector is moving at such a fast pace. These three-to-five year old EVs, whilst they look great value for money, they might not be the best range and they might come with a compromise in terms of ownership proposition. It is a shifting market area and one that we need to be dynamic around as a franchised dealer.”
Customer journey
Dealer groups have been enhancing customer engagement and digital sales channels, improving their online presence. Clark suggests physical and digital presence are equally important. Omni-channel retailing is the only game in town.
He says: “Everybody’s journey when looking for a car begins online so you have to have strength in that digital presence but fundamentally people still want the reassurance of having someone to talk to. Maybe I’m a bit old fashioned this way but I think people like buying from people.
“Having that high street presence is still really important when you are talking about a purchase of this scale. When you factor in the high percentage of vehicles purchased on finance that increases the need for the human touch.”
According to Clark, customer retention is a top priority for the business and it has invested in technology and new systems.
“Retention is a number one priority, general customer retention across sales and aftersales. We have invested a lot of money in new systems to give us a broader idea of customer retention and not just measurements offered to us from OEM partners. I’m not looking at it as a brand to brand repeat customer, I’m looking at it as group to group.
“We represent a number of brands, with a very broad pricing spread and a very broad product mix. My priority is to keep a JC customer a JC customer first and foremost.”
John Clark has established six AI projects for 2026 to improve conversion rate and customer satisfaction.
“I think one of the priorities for someone in my position is to understand where AI can bring value. It has gone from buzzword to wallpaper. We have done a lot of work in the last six months on reviewing, assessing and prioritising and committing to the rollout and introduction of several AI driven projects across the business.
“We spoke about some of those at the conference which introduced management to systems rolling out as we speak. We have carried out pilots and committed to suppliers. One of the key things we wanted to make clear to everybody, I think there is a fear that AI is there to replace people but we do not believe that. We believe that AI is there to make the user the hero. We want to give our teams as much firepower as possible to do the very best job they can do for themselves and the customer.”
